121 pages • 4 hours read
Anthony DoerrAll the Light We Cannot See
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2014A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Thought & Response Prompts
These prompts can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before or after reading the novel.
Post-Reading Analysis
The radio often feels like a character of its own in this novel. It causes death in Werner’s research on triangulation of radio signals, but it also provides an outlet for hope, as in Etienne’s (and later Marie-Laure’s) broadcasts. What role did technology—particularly communication technology—play in this novel? What might Doerr be suggesting about modern technology?
Teaching Suggestion: Encourage students to think about this motif as they process the end of the novel. Marie-Laure brings it nicely to a close with her meditation on modern technology. You can also use the online exhibition from the Digital Public Library of America linked here to compare and contrast the history of the radio in the U.S. and Europe during the war.
- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has put together a short history of the radio with a timeline of its evolution.
- The Digital Public Library of America discusses what radio was like in the U.S. at this time, offering a different perspective to Doerr’s.
Personal Response Prompt
This book forces its readers to contend with the effects of war on both sides.
Related Titles
By Anthony Doerr
